May 25, 2013

It's Fair to Say the Fair Went Great

"A unique and special experience difficult to fully capture in words..."

For our last full day in Honduras, we had an opportunity to visit a local school and put on a fair for the students. The school was up near the impoverished community that we had visited earlier this week. We would need to drive by the same trash dump we had seen earlier this week, reminding us that even getting to school can sometimes be a challenge for these students.

It's fair to say that we all have a greater appreciation for our schools physical space and structure. We have a beautiful campus back home that is well maintained by our hard working staff.

Today, Matt and Matt lead the charge for our team going shopping early in the morning for hotdogs, cookies, and punch with Orsy (a real treat for the kids to hand out at the end of the fair). We had planned on approximately 60 kids though only about 30 made it to school on this day. (Apparently Friday attendance is a problem in all different cultures).

But even with the lower numbers, we weren't deterred and actually saw it as a blessing as we would be able to give more attention to those that were there. Rebecca Driver translated our welcome and then we started our program. We sang a stirring rendition of the Star Spangled Banner (well at least something seemed to stir), then shared a prayer (the Padre Nuestro) and finished with singing Amazing Grace.

Then we broke into four teams that would rotate to four stations. Two students lead 7 or so students per team (Scott and Jon lead the Stinkin' Cheetahs, Brian and Rebecca were at the the reigns of the Negro Caballo team, Leanne and Matt Ryan ran the Gerbil Gang, and the Garrett and Julia lead Team Turtle into action). Then we had students at four different stations (Matt ran the Frisbees/Jump rope area, Jordan was in charge of Soccer, Meghan and Darien lead the face painting and art, and Ciara and Becca were in charge of the play dough and dry erase station.) The kids loved it and it was a welcome break from a typical Friday. In the end we were able to leave a ton of much needed and much appreciated school supplies for the school (along with some JC frisbees, jump ropes and soccer balls).

We ended with small prizes for each student and a lunch to boot. Lots of laughs, lots of smiles, lots of fun!

And even better in the end, we were all treated to a site none of us had ever seen before...With the sweltering heat beating down on us you couldn't help but look up. Only when you did, you were greeted with the rare phenomenon of a rainbow encircling the sun. (I apologize to all you Earth Science teachers out there as I am sure there is a more technical term. I'm sure Mr. Perry will 'enlighten' me when we get home.)

All the students tried to catch a picture of the circular rainbow
but it was hard to capture on camera
I thought what a perfect analogy for our trip...
A unique and special experience difficult
to fully capture in words or on camera...
but still worth trying!